Pande Lazarevski - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Pande Lazarevski

Despite prevailing perceptions, the Balkans has been a region with the longest periods of peace a... more Despite prevailing perceptions, the Balkans has been a region with the longest periods of peace and prosperity in recorded history. For centuries, the Balkans has been a crossroad of civilizations paved by empires, commerce, culture and religion, where civilizations did not clash, but communicated, interacted, and merged, producing fertile ground for dialogue and exchange. This great potential was overshadowed by developments in recent history. The first and last armed conflicts in Europe during the short 20th century (1914-1991) took place in the Balkans. The bloodshed gave birth to a new term – Balkanization that became a synonym for a reversion to the tribal, backward, primitive and even barbarian habits and practices. This term echoed some earlier metaphors that tried to capture the innate instability of the region. These metaphors are a part of a Balkanophobe paradigm that consists of oversimplified and shallow interpretations and conceptual frames about the Balkans. At the beg...

Disaster risk reduction: conceptual shifts

Over the decades, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) has moved from a narrowly perceived technical dis... more Over the decades, Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) has moved from a narrowly perceived technical discipline, to a broad-based global movement focused on sustainable development. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230.000 people, served as a catalyst that convinced many skeptics of the importance of DRR. In 2015, policy-makers and practitioners from 168 countries came together in Hyogo, Japan and adopted the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) 2005-2015: Building the Resilience for Nations and Communities to Disasters. However, HFA had many gaps. Compared to the HFA, the Sendai Framework for DRR (2015-2030) is more far-reaching, holistic and inclusive, and emphasizes the need to address disaster risk management, to reduce existing vulnerability and to prevent the creation of new risks. However, it too has its setbacks. The aim of this paper is to examine the four conceptual or paradigm shifts that occurred in the field of disaster resilience and risk reduction: first, the nature of disasters; second, the shift from disaster management to disaster risk management; third, the shift from monistic to holistic approach that combines DRR, Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Sustainable Development (SD); fourth, from voluntary to obligatory risk reduction. Following the fourth paradigm shift, an upgraded Disaster Resilience Index (DRI) is proposed by Macedonia as an analytical tool that can help policymakers in disaster risk assessment and preparedness.

“A Holistic Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change Adaptation & Sustainable Development”